Inner urban core of the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area at night, 2020
San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area
The San Juan metropolitan area (Spanish: área metropolitana de San Juan), also simply known as the área metro (metro area), is the sprawling area surrounding the capital municipality of San Juan and its conurbation, the municipalities of Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Trujillo Alto, and Cataño. Occasionally, the suburb of Levittown in the municipality of Toa Baja is included within the statistical area. As the most populous municipalities surrounding San Juan, these are considered to be the inner urban area or core municipalities of the San Juan–Bayamón–Caguas metropolitan area (MSA).[3] This urban region is also commonly referred to as the área metro de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico metro area), as it is the primary metropolitan area in the archipelago and island. However, it is only one of six metropolitan areas in Puerto Rico.
Timelapse (1984-2018) of inner urban core of the San Juan metropolitan area
Comprising San Juan, Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Trujillo Alto, and Cataño, the inner urban core of the San Juan metropolitan area is generally on the eastern part of the northern coastal plain of the main island of Puerto Rico. However, of the 6 municipalities within the inner urban core, only Cataño is completely situated on the coastal plain. In contrast, only the northern parts of San Juan, Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, and Trujillo Alto are on the coastal plain, as the southern parts of Bayamón and Guayabo are on the hilly terrain of the Northern Karst Belt, and those of Carolina and Trujillo Alto are on the mountainous terrain of the Sierra de Luquillo. Less populated and restricted by rugged topography, these outer areas are mostly rural.
Roughly covering the eastern half of the main island of Puerto Rico, the topography of the 34 municipalities outside the inner urban core of the San Juan metropolitan area varies between the eastern and southern coastal plains, the Caguas Valley, the Yabucoa Valley, the North Karst Belt, and the Cordillera Central, Sierra de Cayey, and Sierra de Luquillo mountain subranges.
Aside from an urbanized, densely populated downtown area and administrative center, categorized as a barrio and known as a pueblo, and concentrated urbanized residential areas with large populations, these municipalities are mostly rural, particularly those furtherest way, in distance and elevation, from the inner urban core around the capital, San Juan. Generally, low-lying areas along or near the shoreline in coastal municipalities, like those found in Vega Baja and Humacao, are greatly more urbanized and populated than inland, karstic, and mountainous areas, especially in elevated and interior municipalities like Orocovis, which is strictly rural and sparsely populated.
In 2009, the San Juan–Bayamón combined statistical area comprised 68.9% of total population in Puerto Rico. The 2010 census placed the population at 2,728,791, a 4.16% increase over the 2000 census figure of 2,622,876.[9] The 2020 census placed the population at 2,414,593, a 11.51% decrease over the 2010 census figure of 2,728,791.
All municipalities have an urbanized, densely populated downtown area and administrative center, categorized as a barrio and known as a pueblo, and concentrated urbanized residential areas with large populations, which lie on low-lying regions along the coastline. The inland and mountainous parts of the municipalities are strictly rural and sparsely populated.
Other statistical areas
In addition to the San Juan–Bayamón combined statistical area (CSA), Puerto Rico has two more combined statistical areas: the Mayagüez–Aguadilla CSA and the Ponce–Coamo CSA. The first is divided into two metropolitan statistical areas, the Mayagüez MSA and Aguadilla MSA, while the second is divided into one metropolitan statistical area, the Ponce MSA, and one micropolitan statistical area, the Coamo μSA. These statistical areas cover 22 of 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico.
^www.whitehouse.gov Office of Management and Budget I The White House - Puerto Rico Metropolitan Statistical Area - Code 41980 - Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas as of 2013 Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
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